Wooden Gingerbread House Toy – Hand-Painted Christmas Playset

A Short History of the Gingerbread House

Gingerbread has been baked in Europe for centuries, but decorated gingerbread houses became popular in Germany in the early 1800s, after the Brothers Grimm published Hansel and Gretel in 1812. In the story, the witch's cottage in the forest is built of bread, with a roof of cake and windows of sugar.

German bakers began building small houses of spiced dough for Christmas, and the tradition spread across Europe and to America. This one is made of ash instead of dough — it will not crumble, and nobody can nibble the roof.

The set includes:

• Gingerbread House
• Removable wooden door

Build a winter scene with the Wooden Santa with Christmas Bag, the Snowman Fairy House and the Seasonal & Holidays collection.

Gingerbread House

Height × Width × Depth: 20.0 × 14.0 × 4.2 cm (7.9 × 5.5 × 1.7 in)

Removable Door

Height × Width × Depth: 4.7 × 3.2 × 2.4 cm (1.9 × 1.3 × 0.9 in)

Solid ash wood. The house and its removable door are each shaped from solid ash and hand-sanded smooth. Hand-painted with water-based paints in multiple layers, olive oil finish. The front walls and the back of the house are left in natural ash so the grain shows through. No plastics, no solvent-based finishes, no MDF, no veneers. Made in conformity with the European toy safety standard EN 71. Small variations in colour and grain are a natural characteristic of handmade production — not defects. Each piece is unique.

A Christmas classic that never goes stale.

A gingerbread house is one of the first Christmas stories children know. Opening and closing the little door, placing figures at the windows and building a winter scene around the house develops fine motor control, spatial thinking and storytelling.

Inspired by Montessori and Waldorf principles, the Gingerbread House is an open-ended play piece in natural wood. It can be the witch's cottage from Hansel and Gretel, Santa's bakery or a warm shelter for woodland animals, and it sits just as well on a mantel or nature table when play is over.

Shaped from solid ash and finished by hand, it is made to come out of the Christmas box every December for years, sturdy enough for daily play and distinctive enough to become a family keepsake.